brēowanthorpe

The Homestead of Beer

Bière de Garde

By thomas #30 minute boil, #Ale, #Barley, #Beer, #BIAB, #Bière de Garde, #France, #Homebrew, #Hops, #No-sparge, #one-gallon, #Water, #Westfort, #Yeast

Codename : Westfort Bière Outrageant

During my research into European beer styles, I discovered one called “Bière de Garde”, originating from northern France. It is translated to a beer for keeping. Brew in the spring, enjoy in the summer. Perfect. It is similar to a Belgian style, I tend to like Belgians, so this was added to the list to attempt. Read on, it will be attempted again. This one is my most outrageous beer yet, since it is based on a French style, it has been translated. A tip of my hat to the Monty Python troupe for this name. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.

Employing a little revisionist history, instead of presenting a brew fail, I offer up a corrected on the fly recipe. Mistakes were made, I mis-read the starting water requirements, added an extra litre. During the late mash, I was way off on the gravity, so I added white sugar to bring up the gravity. I continued as though everything was normal. It wasn’t until the late boil, that I realised I was above the 4 litre mark on the pot. I quickly updated the recipe, it fell a little out of the scope of the standard, but it was close enough. I was clearly off my game, instead of using the French Saison Ale yeast, I absent-mindedly reached for the New World Strong Ale yeast. Facepalm. Roll with it, and just try again at a later date.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb 11 oz Pilsner malt (2L)
  • 8 oz white sugar
  • 8  oz Golden Promise pale malt (2.4L)
  • 2 oz Amber malt (27L)
  • 2 oz Crystal medium (67L)
  • 1 oz Munich dark malt (9.9L)
  • 1 oz Caramel malt  (30L)
  • 0.1 oz Chinook hops at 30 minutes
  • 1 oz white sugar at 20 minutes
  • 1/4 tsp yeast nutrient at 15 minutes
  • 1/4 tsp Irish Moss (optional) at 15 minutes
  • 0.40 oz Bramling Cross hops at 15 minutes
  • 1 oz brun légère Belgian Candi Sugar  (5L)
  • 6 ml Mangrove Jack New World Strong Ale dry yeast

Vital Stats

BJCP Style :  Bière de Garde
Anticipated ABV : 7.8%
Anticipated IBU : 21
Anticipated SRM : 10
Pre-boil SG : 1.038
Original SG : 1.065
Target SG : 1,008
Brewhouse (in)efficiency : 65%

Brew Day

  • Prepare 7.3L strike water, 158F. (this is what happens when you don’t measure right)
  • Add the milled grains to the bag. 
  • Place the bag in the hot water, set the timer for 75 minutes, and maintain the temperature at 158F.
  • Add the white sugar.
  • Stir occasionally.
  • Calibrate the sonic screwdriver.
  • Lift the bag out of the water, and allow it to drip into the pot. Every bit of sugar that can be extracted will benefit the end ABV.
  • Bring up to a boil, 212F, set the timer for 30 minutes. Add hops, candi sugar, yeast nutrient, and Irish moss, as prescribed above.
  • Sanitise everything required for fermentation.
  • Cool to room temp, an ice-bath or a snowbank work effectively.
  • Prepare the yeast mixture.
  • Pitch the yeast to the carboy.
  • Transfer the wort to the carboy, splash the wort around to aerate the contents.
  • Store in a cool dark place for primary fermentation for 14 days.

Bottling Day

Brew Notes

  • As noted above, this recipe was updated on fly
  • Gravities came in at 1.055 and 1.065, this gives ans anticipated ABV of 7.9%
Fermenting the bière in the carboy for two weeks.

Brew day : 1-May-2023
Bottling day : 

NFT :